Here is an exercise in mapping a system using a causal loop diagram. See [[Power of Exponential]]

Read the following paragraph and identify the variables and relationships:

Researchers point out that people sometimes think that a problem has just one cause. One good example is the GREAT LEAP FORWARD campaign led by Mao Zedong in China 1959. Mao aimed to promote an agricultural revolution. He believed sparrows to be pests. They ate too much grain and should be exterminated. People followed Mao’s orders: They shot the birds, destroyed their nests and used drums to scare them away, forcing them to fly until they were exhausted. 2 billion sparrows were exterminated. However, the sparrows not only ate crops – they also ate insects! As a result, the locust population boomed and the locusts devoured all the crops! Grain production collapsed leading to the worst famine in history. It is estimated that 45 million people died of starvation…

See [https://www.systemdynamics.com.br/home The Cartoon Guide to Systems Dynamics].

See also [[Hospital Beds]]

We can also explore a system using a stock flow diagram (SFD). Some of the variables in our CLD are stocks (accumulations) and we change stock levels via flows. Here I have created an SFD for the Great Leap Forwards: